Portland Timbers Man of the Match: The Case for No One

As with any home loss, it may not have been difficult to pick the best performance from what was on offer in the Portland Timbers' 1-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City. Where it was difficult was in even acknowledging that there were performances to pick from at all. However, once we sat down and thought about it, the picks came.

Here are the players we chose as the Timbers' Man of the Match. Share your picks in the poll below and give us your reasoning in the comments at the bottom of the page.

Michael: Diego Valeri

Though the Timbers didn't score, most of their best chances came through Valeri.

Ryan: Diego Chara and Diego Valeri

Both Diego Valeri and Diego Chara deserve to earn MOTM honors. Chara was everywhere as usual and shielded the shaky central pairing, he even joined the attack on occasion. It felt like anytime the Timbers created anything dangerous offensively it was from the feet of Diego Valeri.

Kelly: Diego Chara

While other guys were bickering and quitting on plays, Chara kept working throughout.

Stacey: Diego Valeri

I really want to make a case for picking no one, but others have tried and I know Will won't publish those picks. Diego Valeri is my unenthusiastic pick because, while he didn't have a great game, he did his best to create chances and he didn't just give up.

Will: Darlington Nagbe

Despite taking his usual bruising, Nagbe continued pushing forward the whole match, engineering chances from start to finish in this game. He may have gone another game without scoring, but he was milliseconds away from an assist on Fanendo Adi's headed-in goal that was waved off due to an offside call and, while Diego Valeri may have created the greater number of chances, Nagbe's cross on that play was the best thing the Timbers did all night.

Make sure to vote in the poll below and share your pick and the reasoning for it in the comments.